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Yellow Rider

The dead wood lives!!

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So, there we have it. According to Worthy .....''all the players that I am releasing have already been released. Everybody else will be here for next season''. Now that doesn''t necessarily mean that there will be more outgoings but the intention is that there won''t be.

Don''t be at all surprised then if our line for the first match shows Flem (again) alongside Shacks, Holt (again) alongside Safri and Jonson (again) on the right side of midfield. If that IS the case then we will truly struggle to make the immediate impact that so many fans are predicting with confidence. With those two in midfield I''ll reiterate what I said about 6 weeks ago when I got savaged on this board by saying that Ashton will get ''about 14 goals'' next season. Exactly who will provide the spark, creativity and service for him to get these ''bucketload of goals for fun'' that is being generally predicted? Answers on the back of a fag packet please.

Seems that poor old Eddy is carrying the can - top man Eddy for his comments yesterday following his release by the club - great professional.

On the subject of team stregthening, most of us have quickly come to the same conclusion that we need the following:

RIGHT BACK (I don''t believe that Helveg will stay)

CENTRE BACK (a 26 - 29 year old Malky style leader but more of a footballer who Shacks can really learn from)

RIGHT SIDE MIDFIELD (is Worthy really saying that Jonson is better than Kevin Cooper who was here 12 months ago??)

CENTRE MIDFIELD (a player with some vision and touch is needed to complement Safri''s more defensive style).

           

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Spot on, Yellow Rider.... spot on.I 100% agree with you on all points.Jonson, without doubt, is in the top 5 worst signings this club has ever made. £750k for a 30yr old who has never played outside the Scandinavian leagues tells its own story - what did we really expect? He WILL NOT be good enough for The Championship, neither will Flem and neither will Holt. The only saving grace is a certain trio of ours that go by the names: Deano, Leon and Hucks - they are our only hope.

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I have no real problems with Holt and Flem - as long as they either perform much better or preferably remain as non playing squad members!

I agree with your targets but would put central midfield as the priority due to the likelihood of only having holt and safri.  A partner PLUS a deputy is needed to ensure that injury/suspension/loss of form means we have to play a defender etc there.   Midfield is our weakest area, assuming we keep all our players. 

Defence SHOULD be OK if the best players at the squad are played, but right back cover is needed.

 

OTBC

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[quote]So, there we have it. According to Worthy .....''all the players that I am releasing have already been released. Everybody else will be here for next season''. Now that doesn''t necessarily mean that the...[/quote]

er..... Leon and hucks might provide one or two

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[quote]I have no real problems with Holt and Flem - as long as they either perform much better or preferably remain as non playing squad members! I agree with your targets but would put central midfield as...[/quote]

Defence should be OK ?

You''re having a laugh. We''ve got one centre back who has shown good potential and who could do an excellent job with the right man brought in beside him and we''ve got a half decent left back.

Apart from that, and forgive me but I''ve said this before, the rest of our defence are either not good enough (even for the Championship), too old, or both. See, the problem is they cannot defend.

Let''s be honest, Holt & Flemming aren''t going to get any better, are they? Doherty can''t make up his mind if he''s a striker or a defender - the only thing you could say is that he''s equally bad at both. Eddy has gone and Helveg comes into the too old/not good enough category.

 

 

 

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[quote]Spot on, Yellow Rider.... spot on.I 100% agree with you on all points.Jonson, without doubt, is in the top 5 worst signings this club has ever made. £750k for a 30yr old who has never played outside ...[/quote]

I disagree Worthy.  I think Jonson will be plenty good enough for the 1st Division.  Players find it hard coming here in their first season.  I''m looking foward to seeing Jonson next year.  I''m still confident he''ll turn into a great signing for this club

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Interesting that these ''deadwood'' players were more than adequate to play nearly every game in a championship winning team, they''ve done a job and can do so again. The thing with the championship is if you have a 20+ striker in your side and can keep it decent at the back then you''ll be around the top 6

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Oh my good gosh! Talk about supposedly knowing your football!

Cooper was actually played out of position on the right wing! He is actually left footed. God knows why he played there and when I saw him play against Reading he did nothing but consistantly cut inside and condense the midfield helping no-one!

He is a good player no doubt but not a right winger!

 

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If Jonson stays he will be quality in the Championship trust me.  That goes for Helveg too.  At least they both look like they actually want to win unlike some of the favourites.

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My god there are some pessimists out there at the moment. "Ashton will only score 14 goals next season"... I mean the guy has just scored 7 in the Premiership in less than half a season against far better opposition. If I remember correctly a certain Darren Huckerby literally destroyed defence after defence when we got promoted, and HE will be here next season. And with Leon playing at his level where he can be really deadly, those three alone will be worth 50 goals minimum. All we need to do is add someone who can take corners and free kicks and we will be top 6 easy.

As for the old guard Fleming and Holt. These guys will do a job in the Championship. They have been top 8 in that division for 3 years prior to last season, they''re not THAT old, early 30s, Teddy at West Ham is 38 and managed 20 odd goals this season. I''m really not that worried. We have a far better team now than we had when we won the Championship in style, and that league IS getting worse and worse every season. Every team is completely skint barring about 6. The only teams challenging will be those who buy, or produce a few quality youngsters and an old star has one last blinding season.

Getting out of the Championship is simple. All you need is a solid defence and midfield, and some star quality up front, as we showed two years ago. We''ve got that combination again. I say top 6 minimum, but I think top 3. Fingers crossed top two.

And players like Charlton and Doc will be top 6 in this division, Charlton especially. He hasn''t played at the highest level his whole career for nothing. And I think Doc will be solid playing against players without much flair.

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For £1M Jonson was NOT good. he was poor value for money. Yes, he was hard-working and strong defensively in the tackle but he was disappointing as a winger and on the few occasions he had a goal scoring opportunity his attempts were pitiful. However, I too think (or hope) he will be an asset in the championship against weaker opposition. Did anyone seriously consider him a viable alternative to ashton/mckenzie/huckerby/svensson as a striker ?

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Sanity is beginning to come to the fore...keep on posting in this mould YR and others will also see the light! ZLF and WN saw the light some time ago

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The defence will be OK.

The difference between prem and championship strikers is their touch and speed, physically and mentally.  Henry v Adebola  Ashton v Kuqi?  Its all in the movement, finishing,  touch, vision and pace - that is what exposed Flem last season - he was easily moved out of position creating space to be exploited or he failed to read the danger until it was too late.  In the championship the balls into the box are of poorer quality, strikers generally need 2/3 more touches to control or finish, which gives flem the time to close down the chances.

If we start the season with

Helveg   Doc  Shackell  Drury

I cant think of many defences in the championship I would swap that for.  Perm in a current back up of Charlie, Flem and Brennan and we still have defence far stronger than most championship team. What it is not is good enough for the prem, but thats not where we are playing next season.    I choose Doc ahead of Charlie only on the grounds that he too is young and I wonder whether he and shacks could work well as a pairing.

Clearly we need cover for right back and ideally I would like a new partner for Shacks, but I am happy to wait until we are back in the prem before buying some real quality.

Where we are really weak following the clear outs is in central midfield - there is no competition for places to keep players on their toes or simply to relegate Holt to 4th choice when safri is injured/suspended.  Midfield is where we should spend the money this summer because beyond this starting 4 (assuming Damo leaves) there is nothing (and that putting Hux where I dont think he should be)

Jonson     Safri    Holt        Hux

 

Leaves us with an ineffective non tackling shadow chasing ball winner and an injury prone card collecting passer of a central midfield, a right winger who can defend but cant go forward coz the manager tells him off and a left winger who gets slated for doing what he does best, attacking, when he leaves the left back over exposed.    A midfield tactical s well as personnel change IS needed.

OTBC

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[quote]So, there we have it. According to Worthy .....''all the players that I am releasing have already been released. Everybody else will be here for next season''. Now that doesn''t necessarily mean that the...[/quote]

so...who''ll supply for Ashton?who supplied for him at Crewe!!??

Enough said...

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[quote]The defence will be OK. The difference between prem and championship strikers is their touch and speed, physically and mentally. Henry v Adebola Ashton v Kuqi? Its all in the movement, finishing, ...[/quote]

Well, looks like Helveg''s on his way so that blows your theory out straight away.

And reading between the lines of Doncaster''s statement, he won''t be the last either despite Worthy''s statement that "All the players that I am releasing have already been released," he said. "Everybody else will be here for next season"

Oh yeah ?.

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I don''t see how people can have a go at Jonson? He''s bought as a winger, but has to spend 95% of the game covering for whichever fullback is behind him, because none of them can cope with pace or skill or crossing ability, let alone all three . . .

Personally, I think that if Holt and Fleming play from the start of next season, Norwich will be making the same mistake they did 2 years ago. Building a side of division one players, most of whom were never going to be able to step up to the Premier. Norwich need to take the opportunity NOW to buy young players with potential. This year can be for them to get used to the style of play and their team-mates, so next year the team will be familiar with each other. This season could easily be used for Shackell and A.N.Other to build a partnership, ditto Safri.

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